My journey at Landstar

So things went smooth at the shipper this morning, in and out in under two hours. Traffic on the other hand, sucked. This time of the year I77 going north from Charlotte all the way into WVa sucks on a weekend, all the vacationers coming back from the beaches of the East coast and Disney are headed back to Ohio, West Virginia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, etc. Trucks rolled over in Wytheville only exacerbate the problem, so after getting to the first service plaza in WVa I said enough. I will get up at 0300 to make my 0900 appointment in Wintersville, Ohio. I for one will be glad when the vacations are done after Labor Day.

 

So I’m getting unloaded at the Walmart DC in Wintersville, Ohio this morning, I’m out greasing my fifth wheel and this driver parked next to me strikes up a conversation. He’s leased to a company out of the Chicago land area (super ego transport) he says “man I’m getting 85% over here, you only get 65% at Landstar, that’s crazy.” He proceeds to tell me he nets $2800 to $3200 a week. I let him ramble on for awhile, and then pull up last weeks settlement on my phone ($5806.00 ) to the house. He’s dumbfounded, “how can that be, I make 20% more than you on each load.” I tell him the grass may seem greener at companies that profess to pay a bigger percentage, but sometimes it’s smoke and mirrors. He doesn’t get to see the rate cons, he pays rental on a trailer, etc. etc.

 

Dropped the truck off this morning at Pittsburgh Power for a diesel force cleaning, overhead, dyno, and ECM tune. Currently in a hotel for the next two days, plenty to do within walking distance. So hopefully sometime Wednesday afternoon I will be done and back on the road.